2nd day: Meteora

Our excursion begins after a good breakfast in Litochoro hotel and we move, by bus and with all bicycles, to Kalabaka that constitutes the city-gate of the huge stone complex of Meteora. The first visit is the hovering Monastery of «Agios Stefanos ». From there the cycling tour begins in a downhill route with a direction to the monastery the «Big Meteoro» and then to the monastery «Varlaam».

The masterpiece of the nature spreads before our eyes. The holy place constitutes a breath-taking spectacle!

We continue our cycling descent and arrive to Kastraki. It nestles between the rocks and it is the most beautiful village in the area and the base of operations for the climbers. Next we go to a special location in order to know the sport of climbing from a qualified instructor on the holy rocks, something very popular in the area and it attracts the specialist athletes and amateurs from all over the world, to the marked routes. There we will try the climbing route for the beginners and we will get to know the custom of AgiosGeorgiosMantilas. At the same time with this activity some cycling exercises and crafts will be take place (for the children under 18 years of age who want to participate).

Then we go with our bicycles to the Natural History Museum and the Mushroom Museum.

The excursion ends at the Central Square of Kalampaka. Then a stop for coffee or a sweet follows and a free tour to the traditional local shops of the area. After a dinner in a traditional tavern, the excursion is concluded with commemorative photos and greetings.

Suitable for: participants ages older than 18 years old with moderate level of fitness

Recommended equipment list

GOOD MOOD!

Kit bag 20-30 liters.

Sport shoes.

Pullover or jacket depending on the season.

Long sleeve shirt (synthetic, perforated, light).

Comfortable short or long trousers or gym suit depending on the season.

Waterproof jacket.

Sunglasses.

Sun cream & lips sun cream.

Extra bottle of water.

Camera, personal items.

Meteora

A group of huge dark rocks is rising outside of Kalampaka, near the first hills of Pindos and Chassia. They were created about 30 million years ago when the sea covering the region began falling back, drawing back and bestowing rocks at the bottom of the sea, that solidified over the years.

The isolated rocks come up to a height 400 meters and host monastic communities on their tops. The monasteries constitute the second more important and remarkable monastic complex in Greece, after the Mount Athos. The buildings of monasteries look like a continuation of the rocks, like their natural ending.

In 1989 the Unesco registered Meteora in the list of the World Heritage Sites, as a cultural natural monument of great importance. It has been recognized the “Holy-Meteora” as “landmark monument of Humanity”, thus declaring that they belong not only to Greece but also to the whole world. The Meteora monasteries are included in the World Cultural Heritage Sites, because they constitute a unique harmonic combination of a byzantine architecture and natural beauty. The Greek state recognized this place as a “holy place, unalterable and intact”.

They owe their name to Agios Athanasios Meteoritis, founder of the monastery of Metamorfosi tou Sotiros (Big Meteoro), who gave this name to the “wide stone”, where he climbed for the first time in 1344. According to the prevailing opinion, the first hermits settled in the area in the 12th century and prospered, however, as a monastic center in the 13th-14th century, while many residents of the surrounding regions adopted the hermetic life. From the thirty monasteries through history, only six of them exist today.

A place for climbing lovers. In the past the monks and the hermits were climbing to the monasteries and their hermitages by ropes, nets or with bare hands. Rock climbing in Meteora continued in the contemporary period. Climbers from every part of the world come today in Meteora, in order to take on the huge rocks, enjoying the classic climbing routes rising almost vertically to a height of a half kilometer.

Meteora are undoubtedly an invaluable artistic and heirloom treasure. The existence of many monasteries in such a small place, along with the orthodox spiritual life and asceticism diachronically cause the admiration of the visitors from abroad and the interior of the county.

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